The family-owned firm is also taking on 60 more staff at its plants in the UK and France and has promised to fill graduate roles from the local third-level colleges at its Kerry base.

Mike Stack, Tricel's managing director, said the economic downturn in Ireland was ultimately what forced the company to start targeting overseas customers.

"Our main success and expansion was actually fuelled by the recession in Ireland, which had a detrimental effect on our Irish market, which forced us to increase focus on our existing UK market and also on further export markets," he said.

Mr Stack said his company bucked the trend after the crash by making a multimillion-euro investment in research and development, plant and machinery.

"Amongst our biggest business achievements during this time was the fact in 2007 we exported 5% of our turnover and were highly dependent on the Irish construction market," he said.

"By 2013 our exports had increased to 70% of our turnover."

Originally known as Killarney Plastics, which was founded in Killarney in 1973, Tricel opened a plant in the UK in 1993 and in France in 2011.

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